fourth him of the debt ceiling was going to derail our economy for certain, even if we manage to solve the fiscal cliff and the sequester lurked ominously. no matter what deal the politicians made. these would have course throw us off track and cause much higher unemployment. finally, four months ago, fourth quarter earnings, the reports were right around the corner and they were supposed to be, yes, nothing to write home about, or maybe worse, particularly the worldwide slowdown that europe seemed to be mandating, we could have huge downside surprises and the last time we had some pre-announcements -- wait a second. what actually happened? how about we had the best first quarter in 15 years. how is that possible? i think it's because the market has changed its animals. i'm not kidding. investors stopped being scared of washington or europe or earnings shortfalls and they decided to embrace the future, not spurn it. they became like ulysses and his crew, strapped to the mast, oblivious to the sell, sell, sell sirens of the saturnine set. where is sappho when you need him? we got to the